Shana Fried
Founder, *snapshot*
Shana Fried arrived at her first day of law school with a faux-hawk that drew stares from the suits. But encouraging diversity in staid environments has always interested Fried. In 2004, bothered by what she saw as the segregated LGBT party scene in New York City, she began *snapshot*, a party that invited folks of all stripes.
“I wanted to start a party where everyone was welcome, there was no gender check at the door, there was no playing toward a certain type of crowd,” Fried says. “I wanted to mix that up.” *snapshot*’s tagline—“catching you in the act”—grew popular, and Fried projected the crowd’s faces on a giant screen at each party. The photos showed up on MySpace and Friendster, a kind of guerilla viral marketing that paid off. *snapshot* now boasts a weekly crowd of 150 to 200, with the 2008 Pride party hosting 1,500. In the interim, Fried trained as an entertainment lawyer and, at age 28 this year, became a partner at Martinez Law. —LF
